Railway-brake rigging.



c. 0, ANDERSON.

RAILWAY BRAKE RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-9. 1912.

1,1 60,358. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETSfiSHEET l.

cuLuMBIA PLANODRAPH CD.,WASHINCITON, D. c.

v C. O. ANDERSON.

RAILWAY BRAKE meme.

0N FILED IAN 9.1912

APPHCATI 1,160,358, Patented Nov 16, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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CHARLES O. ANDERSON, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA,,

or rwo-rrrmnsro L1). SPAULDING.

RAILWAY-BRAKE RIGGING.

Application filed January 9, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES O. ANDER- soN, a citizen of the United States, and a.

resident of Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Brake Rigging, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to railway brake rigging and more particularly to slack adjusting devices therefor.

It is the object of my invention to provide in railway brake rigging a simple and durable means for automatically compensating in the connections for the slack caused therein by wear of the brake-shoes;

Constructions embodying my invention are shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view, partially in section, showing the application of the adjusting deviceto a member subjected to compressive stresses, Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the application of the adjusting device to a member subjected to tensile stresses, Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the planes indicated by the line w w of Fig. 1, and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are de-v tail views taken from the planes of the lines y y, 2z and 0-0, respectively, in Fig. 2. o

Referring to the structure illustrated in Fig. there is shown a pair of brake-beams 1 and 2, carrying brake-shoes 3 and connected, respectively, to the live-lever 4L and dead-lever 5 by the brake-lever fulcrum clevises 6 and 7 The upper end of the deadlever is connected with the truck-frame 8, the lower ends of the dead and live levers are connected to each other by a bottom-rod of variable length, and the upper endof the live-lever is connected with a rod'9 Which extends to the usual power or hand brake applying mechanism, the arrangement being such that the brakes are applied by pulling upon the said rod. The bottom-rod, which connects the lower ends of the dead and live break-levers, comprises the heads 10 and 12 which are pivotally connected to the respective levers, and a rod 11 of which one endis threaded and screwed into the head 10 and the other end fits revolubly in the head 12. y The latter end of the rod; 11 is preferablymade of conical form and; the end of the recess into which it fits is also 0t Specification of Letters Patent.

,the releasing position it Patented Nov. 16, 1915. Serial No. 870,336.

conical form but slightly flatter so that only the point of the rod engages the same. i The end of the head 12 extends out over the rod as a sleeve 13 and into is screwed a plug 1 through which the rod passes loosely. VV'thin the sleeve is a still spiral spring 15 of which the inner end is secured to the rod and the outer end is sharpened and bears against the inside of the sleeve, as shown in Fig. 3. The inner sides of the jaws of the fulcrum clevis 6 adjoining the live-lever are slightly rounded and the ends of the hole in the lever for the fulcrum-pin 16 are enlarged as shown in Fig. 3, so that a slight transverse rocking or rotative movement of the lever may 0ccur relatively to the clevis. The upper end of the live-lever passes between a pair of angularly offset plates 17 which are secured to a part of the truck-frame 8 and are arranged so that as the lever brake-applying positionits upper end will be pushed to one side, and as it moves toward will be, pushed to the otherside. The slight lateral movement of the lowerend of the lever is permitted by the normal clearances in the joints between the heads 10 and 12 and the brake levers. I

The action of the described mechanism in automatically taking up the slack of the brakes is as follows: The live-lever being at the normal release position shown in Fig. 1, when the clearance between the brake-shoes and the wheels 'is normal the lever in applying the brakes does not move far enough to cause it to be moved transversely by the oil'- set plates 17, but as soon as the clearance exceeds the normal the lever is moved transversely more or less, with the result that the head 12 and sleeve 13 are rotated slightly relatively to the. rod 11 and in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3. Then upon the ASSIGNOR, BY ll/IESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

the end of the sleeve 7 moves toward the i movement of the lever to release position the head and sleeve are rotated slightly in the opposite direction, and in so doing the engagement between the pointed end of the spring and the sleeve causes the rod 11 to turn slightly with the sleeve. Said movement of the rod 11 screws the threaded end a the sleeveat and rotatably connected 10 and the threaded part oftherod is then greater than that between the conical end of the rod and the headl2 and-between the spring and the sleeve 13, the movement of this time being in the same direction as the spiral curvature of the spring. Conversely, when the movement of the sleeve is opposite to the direction of curvature ofthe spring the frictionbetween them and between the head 12 and the coni cal end of the rod is greater than that between the rod and the head 10, since at this time the brakes are released and the friction between the head 10and the threaded part of the rod is relatively small] In Fig. 2is shown an ordinary arrangement of braking mechanism for a six-wheel truck; 7 lVith this and various other arrangements of the mechanism it is necessary to place the arljustingdevices upon a member subjected to tensile instead of compressive stresses, such member in the present instance being the connection between the brake-lever il and the equalizing lever i2. The said connecting member comprises a head 43 connected with the equalizing lever and having a threaded rod e4; integral therewith, an internally; threaded sleeve into which the rod e l is screwed, anda head 46 pivotally connected with the lever 4:1 and havinga rod L7 fixedly connected therewith with they sleeve 45. The rod d'lhas ahead thereon which lies inside the sleeve 45 and on said head is secured, a spring 48, similar to the spring 15,

of which the outer pointed end engages the inside of the sleeve. Onthe head 46 is an upwardly extending'portion having a later ally projecting lug 4:6 also has a downwardly extending portion through which passes a screw having a conical end extending into the path of the lever so as to be engaged thereby when the same moves more than a normal distancein applying the brakes. The jaws of the head 74:6 adjoining the lever are rounded and the ends of the hole in the lever for the fulcrum-pin are enlarged similarly to the arrangement of the clevis 6 and lever 4L previously described, so that a slight rotation of the head relative to the lever may occur. The operation of the structure will be obvious. As long as the movement of the lever 41 is normal no rotative movement of the head will occur; \Vhen by wear of the brake-shoes the'lever is permitted to, move morethan a normal amount in applying the brakes, it engages the conical end of the screw 50 and turns the head slightly in one direction. The friction between the screw 'vers, said member comprising 7 49 with an inclined face i which is engaged by the lever 41 when in the release position shown inFig. 2.. The head 44 and sleeve 45 then being relatively great 'the rod 47 turns relatively to the sleeve.

Then uponmovement of the lever to release position the head 46 is turned in the opposite direction and, the friction between the screw and sleeve being slight and the rotative movement of the head and rod 47 being in the direction of the arrow in Fig.6, the engagement of the pointed end of the spring 48 with'the sleeve causes the'latter to turn in such a direction as to shorten the connecting member and compensate for the slack.

Now, having described my inventiomwhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: f

1. Ina slack adjuster for brake rigging, brake-levers, a member connecting said letwo threaded parts relatively rotatable to vary the length of the member and a rotatable element connecting one of the threaded parts and one of the brake-levers, and means controlled by said brake-lever for rotating said element, said element being the only connecting part between said brake-beam and said threaded part.

2/In a slack adjuster for brake rigging, brake-levers, a member connecting said lee vers, said member comprising two threaded parts relatively rotatable to vary the length of the member and a rotatable element fric+ tionally connected with one of said threaded parts and pivotally connected with one of the brake-levers, and means for causing-rotation of said element only when the movement of the lever is greater than the normal. 3. In a slack adjuster for brake rigging, a brake-lever, a member connected therewith and having three serially arranged rela tively rotatable parts, two of the same being threaded and the length of the member being variable by relative rotation of said threaded parts, and means arranged between the third part and one of the: threaded parts whereby rotation of said third part in 'part being rotatable by the brake-lever in moving from applied to release positionand being thesole connection between the brakclever and the other parts of the connecting member. v r l e 4. In a slack adjuster for brake rigging, brake-levers, a member connecting them, said member having threaded parts and being variable in lengthiby relative rotation of said parts, an element rotatably connectedwithone of the threadedparts and forming the sole connection between said threaded part and one of the brake-levers, said member also consisting inpart of means wherebyrotation of said element in one di" rection will have a tendency to rotate the intermediate threaded part with it, and means for rotating the element in said direction when the brake-levers move to release position and for rotating said element in the other direction when the brake-levers move to applied position.

5. In a slack adjuster for brake rigging, brake-levers, a member connecting them, said member having parts connected one to each brake-lever and an intermediate part rotatable relatively to each of the others, the intermediate part'and one of the other parts being threaded whereby relative rotation thereof will vary the length of the connecting member, and means in connection with the brake-lever to which the unthreaded part is connected for rotating said part in alternate directions during the movements of the lever to applied and release positions.

6. In a slack adjuster for brake rigging, brake-levers, a member connecting them, said member having parts connected one to each brake-lever and an intermediate part rotatable relatively to each of the others, the part and one of the other parts being threaded whereby relative rotation thereof will vary the length of the connect ing member, and means for causing rotative Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

movement of the brake-lever to which it is connected, said rotative movement alternating in direction as said brake-lever is moved from applied to release positions positions.

7. In a brake rigging, a connecting member comprising a plurality of serially arranged relatively rotatable parts, the length of the member being variable by relative rotation of one pair of said parts but not being variable by relative rotation of another pair of said parts, means for rotating in alternating directions one end of the connecting member relatively to the other, and means whereby the rotation in one direction will cause relative movement of one pair of the parts and the rotation in the other direction will cause relative movement between the other pair of parts.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

CHAS. O. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

A. A. MCCLU'RE, WILSON A. AUSTIN.

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

and from release to applied unthreaded part andthe 1 

